California could slash 5 GOP US House seats, as Texas moves at Trump's urging to pad GOP margin
The move comes in direct response to efforts by Texas Republicans to redraw House districts in order to strengthen the GOP hold on the chamber in 2026.
A draft plan that's circulating aims to boost the Democratic margin to 48 of California's 52 congressional seats, according to a source familiar with the plan who was not authorized to discuss it publicly. That's up from the 43 seats the party now holds. It would need approval from lawmakers and voters, who may be skeptical to give it after handing redistricting power to an independent commission years ago.
In addition, the proposal would generously pad Democratic margins in districts for competitive seats anchored in Orange County, San Diego County and the Central Valley farm belt, giving Democrats a potential advantage as Texas Republicans move to sway the tissue-thin balance of the House.
According to the proposal, districts now held by Republican Reps. Ken Calvert, Darrell Issa, Kevin Kiley, David Valadao and Doug LaMalfa would see right-leaning voters shaved and Democratic voters boosted in a shift that would make it likely a left-leaning candidate would prevail in each race.
In districts held by Democratic Reps. Dave Min, Mike Levin and Derek Tran, the party's edge would be boosted to strengthen their hold on the seats, the source said.
Democratic members of California's congressional delegation were briefed on the new map on Monday, according to a person familiar with the meeting who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations.
The proposal is being circulated at the same time that Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has said he wants to advance partisan redistricting. He says he won't move ahead if Texas pauses its efforts.
Newsom said he'd call a special election for the first week of November. Voters would weigh a new congressional map drawn by the Democratic-controlled Legislature.
'California will not sit by idly and watch this democracy waste away,' Newsom said Monday.
—
Associated Press writers Tran Nguyen in Sacramento and Joey Cappelletti in Washington contributed.
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Yahoo
10 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Once targeted over Trump shoutout in 2016, Gregory Cheadle plans Redding return
Five years after making his fifth California Congressional District 1 election bid, a Redding politician and real estate broker plans to return to Shasta County in a few months, doctorate in hand. Gregory Cheadle said he's still devoted to public service — the impetus behind him going back to school — and is using those failed election runs to foster personal growth. "I didn't earn a PhD to sit in an ivory tower somewhere," said Cheadle, 68, who graduated in June from Loma Linda University with a doctorate in social welfare. 'My time away (from Redding) wasn't an escape … it was preparation" for public service. Cheadle went from long-shot Republican politician to a national pariah after President Donald Trump singled him out as one of his supporters during a 2016 campaign stop. That notoriety that followed and six lost elections hasn't dampened Cheadle's optimism or appreciation for the Redding community. His home is here, he said, and he wants to return. 'Sometimes it takes leaving and returning ... to truly appreciate where you're meant to be." Note to readers: If you appreciate the work we do here at the Redding Record Searchlight, please consider subscribing yourself or giving the gift of a subscription to someone you know. He said he's not sure if he wants to run for local office again or serve his community some other way when he arrives home in Redding, likely around the holidays: "I just have to find out where I fit." That said, he does think Shasta County's political arena could use an overhaul. "The county's grassroots leaders fight culture wars, and dispute election denial and conspiracy theories instead of economic development and infrastructure," Cheadle said. Events that shaped Cheadle's life Cheadle's credits two childhood experiences for his passion for public service and his ability to bounce back from defeat. Born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1956, Cheadle spent his early years in Oakland with his mother. When he was 8, his father took him from his mother and back to Cleveland, 'a traumatic experience that taught me early about resilience,' Cheadle said. It was a pivotal time for the nation and for Cheadle. He recalled during his childhood seeing military tanks rumbling through the streets during political unrest that marked the 1960s. He clearly remembers meeting the man whose election helped deescalate the violence. It was Cleveland's first Black mayor, Carl Stokes. 'He came walking down the street. He shook my hand. I was on cloud nine," Cheadle said. Cheadle said meeting Stokes taught him celebrities were real people making a difference in their communities and that he could make a difference, too. After graduating from high school in 1975, Cheadle spent the next decade earning his bachelor's and master's degrees at Cal State Hayward. He also received his real estate license, but soon discovered no broker would hire a Black person to sell real estate in the mostly white suburbs of Contra Costa County, he said. By then married and helping support a family, Cheadle drew on his learned resilience. Real estate agents had to work under a broker, so Cheadle got his broker's license in 1988 and became his own boss, he said. After more than a decade selling real estate, the father of three moved his family to Redding in 2000 to give them a better quality of life than he could afford in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was in Redding he discovered his "calling in public service," he said. At first he planned to go into criminal defense. He earned his law degree in 2012 at Cal Northern in Chico, but was one of the 70% of aspiring lawyers who didn't pass the California bar, he said. So Cheadle pivoted to public service through politics. He first threw his hat in the North State's District 1 Congressional ring in 2012, repeating the bid in 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020 — each time attempting to challenge GOP incumbent Doug LaMalfa. Through 2018, he said he was running as 'an 1856 Republican," the party of Abraham Lincoln, but even in the conservative district he never made it past the primaries against the heavily favored LaMalfa. Cheadle faces backlash after Trump shoutout Bent on making a difference in a county where 80% of the population identified as white and less than 1% as Black, Cheadle said he resolved not to let other people's attitudes about race be his problem. That became impossible when on June 3, 2016, Cheadle — then on his third congressional bid — went to hear then-presidential candidate Donald Trump speak at Redding Regional Airport. When Trump mentioned an 'African American guy who was a fan of mine,' Cheadle told the Record Searchlight, he was just having a bit of fun when he tried to get Trump's attention. 'Look at my African American over here. Look at him. Are you the greatest? You know what I'm talking about? OK,' Trump said in Cheadle's direction. Cheadle appeared on national news saying he couldn't find offense in someone calling him "the greatest," but others did. He stopped campaigning and retreated to his home to ride out a wave of angry phone calls and Facebook messages. By then divorced, the backlash cost him friends and made him feel unsafe going out, he said. The only time Cheadle said he voted for Trump was in the 2016 general election. Cheadle reemerged in 2018 to run for Congress as a Republican, but by 2020 he'd redefined himself as a political Independent. Leaving the Republican Party wasn't waffling, it was "the result of following my conscience," he said. "I watched Republicans weaponize patriotism against a Black man (Colin Kaepernick) peacefully protesting police brutality." Cheadle came under fire again after he defended Kaepernick's decision to kneel, this time from Republicans. 'The venom directed at me was a revelation," he said. "This wasn't the party of Lincoln (who) died alongside enslaved people." But Cheadle faced a conundrum. Running as a Republican gave him an audience unwilling to support racial justice, he said, while running as an Independent meant he kept his principles, but few supporters. So, he reinvented himself again. While a doctoral student at Loma Linda, Cheadle ran for Congressional District 43 in 2024, this time as a Democrat against Democratic incumbent Maxine Waters of Southern California. While Waters won handily, Cheadle placed a distant fifth out of the five candidates in the primary, but said he again learned from the experience. While not a perfect fit, the Democratic Party shares his views on racial equality, while Republicans are caught in a double standard. For example, the GOP considers Black unemployment numbers that are double white unemployment numbers to be the norm, Cheadle said: 'If those numbers were reversed, they'd declare a national emergency." When he gets back to Redding around Christmas, Cheadle — who penned the pro-vegan book 'Milk Madness,' published in 2022 — plans to finish writing three other books he has in the works, he said. One is about the 2016 Trump rally in Redding and the fallout afterward. Jessica Skropanic is a features reporter for the Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. She covers science, arts, social issues and news stories. Follow her on Twitter @RS_JSkropanic and on Facebook. Join Jessica in the Get Out! Nor Cal recreation Facebook group. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today. Thank you. This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Gregory Cheadle, who left Republican Party, returning to Shasta County Solve the daily Crossword
USA Today
11 minutes ago
- USA Today
I'm a Democrat who left Texas. New GOP maps will silence Latino voters.
I joined my fellow Texas Democrats in leaving the state to deny Republicans the required quorum they need to pass manipulated congressional maps. This summer, Texas tragically lost more than 135 of our neighbors, many of them children, to the devastating July 4 floods. In the wake of that heartbreak, Texans deserved leadership, compassion and action. Instead, Texas Republicans are exploiting the tragedy to launch a blatant and calculated power grab. They've hijacked what should be a special legislative session focused on helping grieving survivors to instead do the bidding of President Donald Trump and push through new congressional maps − a process normally conducted every 10 years after the Census. This isn't just political opportunism. It's an insult to the people who lost their lives and the communities still suffering. This is also a test. In 2024, Democrats nationwide took the Latino vote for granted and paid for it. We can't afford to make that mistake again. We must be clear about what's really happening in Texas now. Republicans are using Latino voters as political pawns. Latino voices, electoral power and ability to fully participate in our democracy are under threat. Democrats must stand up and show that we will not allow them to be silenced without a fight. Texas and national Republicans know the math. They understand that Latinos are now the largest population in our state, and that Texas elections have national consequences for the balance of power in Washington. A redistricting primer: Texas Democrats face their Alamo with new GOP congressional map Rather than work to earn more Latino votes, Republicans, at the direction of President Donald Trump, are instead tactfully carving them out of districts, dividing up their communities and working to silence their influence. Let's be clear:These proposed maps are designed to entrench Republican power, pad the party's slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and rig future elections. They are not a reflection of the will of the people, nor based on any new census data. Republicans' hidden agenda isn't so hidden In Austin, for example, we're seeing the impact firsthand. The maps would eliminate the Latino opportunity district, robbing a diverse, civically engaged city of fair representation at a time when our population has soared. Austin would be forced into a newly drawn Republican district stretching hundreds of miles to east Texas. Similar scenarios would play out across south Texas, Houston and Dallas, where millions of Latinos live. These new Republican maps send a message to Latino voters − and voters in general − that their voices don't matter. As Democrats, we can't wait for an election cycle to speak out and act with conviction. It's not enough to oppose these maps. We must fight for a Texas, and a country, where every voter, in every neighborhood, has an equal voice. After all, a hallmark of a thriving American democracy is that voters choose their elected leaders − not the other way around. Opinion: Texas Democrats know they're fighting a losing cause. At least they're fighting. As chair of the Progressive Caucus' redistricting effort, I've led these fights before, and I'm prepared to do it again. As a Latina and proud daughter of the Rio Grande Valley, I refuse to sit back while Republican leaders silence our communities, try to erase Latino political power and rig our democracy behind closed doors. That's why I joined my fellow Texas Democrats, as I did in 2021, in leaving the state, denying Republicans the required quorum they need to pass these manipulated maps. They've left us no choice. I must do everything in my power to stand up for my constituents and all Texans. That includes not letting these maps get a vote on the floor to begin with. If it can happen in Texas, it can happen elsewhere I believe we have the power − and the people − on our side to stop this shameful scheme. Texans must be willing to show up at hearings, share their stories, and demand transparency and fairness in this process. We need Democrats nationwide to see this moment as a front-line voting rights battle. It's not just another local fight. Because if Republicans make Texas their blueprint, what's to stop them from doing this in other states? Latino voters have seen this play out before. Politicians come around every few years talking a big game about representation, then disappear until the next election cycle. It has to end. The way we fight now with these maps will determine whether we earn the right to ask for Latinos to vote for us later. This moment is how Democrats can start to regain trust with Latino voters, and all communities of color. That means the stakes are high, but so is the opportunity. This is not just a fight about maps. It's a fight about who counts, and who has power in our democracy. History has its eyes on us, and it will remember who met this moment with resolve to win. And who stayed silent. Democratic Rep. Gina Hinojosa chairs the Texas House Progressive Caucus' redistricting effort.
Chicago Tribune
11 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
John Curran: Illinois Democrats' delivery tax is a short-term cash grab paid by those who can least afford it
Well past midnight, on the final night of the spring session, Illinois Senate Democrats passed one of the most broad-based, regressive taxes on working families our state has seen in decades, which will affect every family and business from deep southern Illinois to towns on the Wisconsin border and everywhere in between. This delivery tax would force each Illinoisan to pay an additional $1.50 on nearly every order placed in our state, regardless of its cost, size or supplier. Whether you are making a bulk order of expensive items or just need a pack of diapers for a sick child, the tax will charge you $1.50 on every order. The Senate Democratic majority says groceries and prescriptions are exempt — but the moment your cart includes anything else, from shampoo to school supplies, the tax kicks in. The majority of the estimated $1 billion collected yearly from Illinois taxpayers in all 102 counties will be sent to bail out the grossly mismanaged CTA and decades of unfunded pensions in the city of Chicago. Unfortunately for Illinois taxpayers who are expected to shoulder this burden, the proposal lacks the meaningful reforms needed to improve transit funding long term and, as these Chicago bailout proposals always do, carves out an exemption for many deliveries in the very city it was created to help. Known as the Retail Delivery Climate Impact Fee, the proposal would not collect a tax on any deliveries made by bicycle, which, because of congestion, are far more prevalent in Chicago, ensuring that suburban and downstate residents will be much more likely to be charged the fee. Besides being patently unfair, it doesn't make any sense, as studies show delivery services can actually help lower emissions by reducing trips to the store. The regressive nature of the tax will have the worst effect on vulnerable populations, including low-income people unable to afford or store bulk orders, seniors, single parents and everyone without their own transportation. This effect on the poor is so concerning that a group of faith leaders sent a letter to Illinois senators opposing the legislation, saying the plan is 'a tax structure that punishes poverty.' Sadly, their pleas were ignored. Data from Colorado, the only state that has enacted a broad delivery tax — 28 cents per motor vehicle order, a far cry from Illinois' $1.50 — validates their concerns. A survey of Colorado residents highlighted the tax's disproportionate impact on people with disabilities and low-income households. The share of the tax relative to income was over four times higher for households earning less than $25,000 per year compared with those earning $200,000 or more. The tax increased take-out prices across the board, leading to more than hundreds of thousands of fewer delivery orders, millions in lost revenue for local businesses, and revenue and job losses for restaurant and delivery workers. The increased prices and reduced sales are especially burdensome for small businesses that already operate on razor-thin margins. Other states are taking note, and in 2024 and 2025, every state that considered such a tax, including neighboring Indiana, dropped or rejected their proposals. Maurice Scholten: The RTA has more money to work with than it realizes. State lawmakers need to know tax on working families is even more offensive when you consider the fact that Illinois brought in a record $54 billion in tax revenue in fiscal year 2025 — the most money our state has ever taken from taxpayers — and the Democratic majority still passed a budget with nearly $1 billion in additional tax hikes, budget gimmicks and no solution for the CTA. There is no denying that we must continue to invest in our state's public transit system for the millions of Illinois families, students, tourists and workers who rely on it. But the taxpayers who pay for it deserve a fiscally conservative approach and reforms needed to ensure a world-class, safe and soluble system — not a short-term cash grab that hurts, rather than helps, Illinoisans, $1.50 at a time.
